This document explains how to use advanced search features in Virtual Cabinet so you can quickly find documents, refine results, and ensure nothing is ever lost. It covers choosing custom index sets, navigating date fields, using saved searches, managing views and columns, ordering results, searching from Outlook, content and Boolean searching, and combining index values with content search.
Choose and Save Your Default Indexes
With Virtual Cabinet selected at the top, open the index selection:
Use Choose my indexes to define the index fields you want to always search on. For example, select Client Name and Document Entry as your preferred fields.
Close Virtual Cabinet, then return to your Search tab. Your chosen fields will now load by default, ready for your next search.
Search for Documents Published to the Portal
Open Choose indexes again and select the Publish to portal index. Click OK to confirm.
In the search criteria, set the Client to Publish to portal and run the search. The results will show all documents currently published to the portal, allowing fast access if you use the portal system.
Efficiently Navigate Date Fields
Place your cursor in any date field. Use the Up and Down arrow keys on your keyboard to quickly cycle through days, months, or years. This lets you adjust dates rapidly without opening the full calendar control. Run your search once the desired date range is set (for example, to find documents from the last 18 months).
Create and Use Saved Searches
From the search screen, you can create saved searches, similar to bookmarks in a web browser.
Set up a search you use frequently (for example, for a specific client or a common set of criteria), then save it.
You can then open that saved search with a single click, either directly from the Search tab or from the bottom of your Home screen.
Adjust Views, Columns, and Grouping
Use the different result views (List, Preview, Thumbnail) and optionally hide the search criteria to gain more space. In any view:
- Show/hide columns: Right‑click any column header to choose which data columns are visible.
- Reorder columns: Drag column headers to new positions with your mouse. For example, resize and move the Email Attachment column, and reposition columns such as Version and File ID.
- Move index columns: Move key index fields (such as a “blocker” field) to keep them visible.
When you bring the Preview pane back in, you’ll see an “Excel freeze panes” effect so fields on the left stay visible as you scroll horizontally.
You can also group by the Client column to create a folder‑like structure for each client file. To regain space, right‑click the grouping bar and uncheck Client if you already have client as a grouping.
Order Documents with Multi‑Level Sorting
By default, documents within a group are sorted by Document Entry Date in descending order. To change ordering:
- Click on the Client column header to sort clients in descending alphabetical order (e.g., Accounts and Audit, Company Secretarial, General).
- Hold Shift and click another column header, such as Document Type, to apply a second‑level sort so document types are grouped together within each client.
Holding Shift when selecting sort columns allows you to set and maintain multi‑level ordering, which Virtual Cabinet will remember next time.
Search from Outlook Using Indexed Emails
In Outlook, open an indexed email so the Virtual Cabinet pane is visible. You will see all index values showing where the email was filed. Click on the Client Name index value to trigger a bond search.
This will show all documents for that client in Virtual Cabinet directly from Outlook.
Enable and Use Content Searching
Ensure the Client’s filing cabinet (or another appropriate cabinet) is selected for your search. To enable content search, click the Search content button; it will turn grey when active.
With content search enabled, anything you type into the Keyword search box will be matched against the content of documents in the selected cabinet. For example, search for Thomas Norfolk to find any documents containing Thomas, Norfolk, or both. Click Search to run it.
The results list will show the documents found, with matching words highlighted in black within the relevant paragraph.
If you then click on the hyperlink in the result list, the corresponding document opens at the point where Thomas and Norfolk appear.
Use Boolean Searches for Precise Content Matching
Boolean operators allow you to perform more advanced content searches:
- Exact phrase: To find the exact phrase “Thomas Norfolk” (where the words appear next to each other), enclose the phrase in double quotes and click Search.
This will only return documents where Thomas appears immediately before Norfolk.
-
AND operator: To find documents that contain both names, such as Thomas and Samantha, type:
Thomas AND Samantha
Make sure AND is in capitals. Run the search to return documents where both words appear. -
NOT operator: To find documents that contain Thomas but not Samantha, type:
Thomas NOT Samantha
Run the search to return only documents that mention Thomas and exclude those that also mention Samantha.
Use Wildcards and Fuzzy Matching in Content Searches
Within the content search:
- Wildcard (*):
-
"test"(with quotes) returns only documents containing the exact word test. -
test*returns documents containing any word starting with test, such as testing or testament. -
Tilde (~) for similar words:
Searching forword~(with a tilde) will return documents containing similar terms such as ward and wording, based on approximate matches.
These tools help locate documents even when you are unsure of the exact spelling or full word.
Combine Index Values with Content Search
For the most targeted searches, combine index filters with content keywords. For example:
- Set an index field such as Description to live on the right‑hand side.
- In the content search box at the top, enter Thomas.
- Click Search to return documents where the description is live and the content includes Thomas.
In this example, two documents are returned that match both the index criteria and the content search.